Friendly CLI

Lightweight feature-rich Linux library, that written in modern C++17 and doesn't require external dependencies.

Text formatting

Text class provides text formatting tools, that support following specifiers.

• Style specifier <s>, where s is first lowercase letter of a style: reset, bold, underline or inverse.
• Foreground color specifier ~c~, where c is first lowercase letter of a color: red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan or dim.
• Background color specifier ~C~, where C is first uppercase letter of a color (same list as above). By default, automatic foreground color inversion is enabled (each color has its own rule), but if you want to turn it off use the exclamation mark ! after a letter. Automatic inversion useful for colors that merge with the terminal text color.

To escape a specifier use the escape character \033 before it.

Let's take a look at sample program.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

// Provides information about terminal abilities.
#include "fcli/terminal.hpp"
// Provides color palette.
#include "fcli/theme.hpp"
#include "fcli/text.hpp"

int main() {
  using namespace std;
  using namespace fcli;

  // How many colors terminal supports?
  const auto colors_support = Terminal().find_out_supported_colors();

  // Detection was successful?
  if (colors_support.has_value()) {
    // Save this information for text formatter.
    Terminal::cache_colors_support(*colors_support);
  } else {
    // Else we can ask user.
  }

  // Change current theme that used by formatter.
  Theme::set_theme(Theme::Name::ARCTIC_DARK);

  string text = "~m~Col~b~ori~c~ze<r> and <b><u>stylize<r> ~Y~anything<r>";
  Text::format(text);
  cout << text << endl;
  // Or pass text by value:
  // cout << Text::format_copy("...") << endl;
  return 0;
}

Execution result for a terminal that supports 256 colors:

fcli::literals namespace provides the user-defined string literals. For example, to format an error message use the _err literal:

cerr << "Couldn't hack the Pentagon!"_err << endl;

User-defined palette

If you don't like predefined themes, you can create own color palette:

// Use the Material Light theme palette as base.
auto palette = Theme::get_palette(Theme::Name::MATERIAL_LIGHT);
// Change color properties.
palette.red = {160U, true};
// Apply new palette.
Theme::set_palette(palette);

Each color has two properties:

1. 8-bit color code;
2. Boolean value that determines whether foreground color should be inverted when using this color as background.

Progress bar

Progress can be undetermined or determined. Undetermined progress has animated indicator (that you can change) and text:

// false — progress isn't determined.
Progress progress("Calling Elon Musk", false);
progress.show();

Determined progress has percents and it shows loading bar as background color:

// Reuse previously created progress.
progress.set_determimed(true);
// You can change text using the assignment operator.
progress = "Downloading the Internet";
// And percents too.
progress = 42.0;

Build

All you need is a compiler that supports the C++17 standard and default system thread library. doctest framework also required if you want to build the unit tests (BUILD_TESTING option).

mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. -DBUILD_TESTING=<ON/OFF>
cmake --build .

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